Denton County is the 25th fastest-growing county in United States with nearly 781,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Effective September 1, 2001, Denton County Transportation Authority was enabled by House Bill 3323 during the 77th Texas Legislature. Senator Jane Nelson and Representative Burt Solomons worked closely with the Denton County Commissioner’s Court and community leaders to pass H.B. 3323, initiating the process to create the authority. On November 5, 2002, Denton County approved the creation of the Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) to advance public transportation alternatives. DCTA was funded in 2003 by a dedicated half-cent sales tax from the cities of Denton, Lewisville and Highland Village and fulfilled its initial service plan in June of 2011 with the launch of its A-train commuter rail service. In December 2011, DCTA updated its service plan to include system-wide improvements to build on the initial investments and meet the public transit needs caused by the area’s dynamic growth.
We’re committed to improving mobility, air quality, economic development and livability in the areas we serve. For the past 17 years, DCTA has accelerated innovative transportation solutions which have been critical to reducing traffic congestion and enhancing air quality, while contributing to orderly growth and development and improving the quality of life for Denton County residents.
- Launch of A-train 21-mile commuter rail service in June 2011
- Grand opening of its new bus operations maintenance facility in February 2014
- Partnered with the City of Frisco to launch new contracted demand-response service in December 2015
- Implementation of recommendations for the first and second phases of DCTA's Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA) study which provided enhanced services in Lewisville in August 2016, new Highland Village Connect Shuttle and Community On-Demand services in April 2016, and service improvements in Denton in May 2018
- Signed a new long-term rail operations and maintenance contract with First Transit, Inc. in June 2016 - one of the largest contract agreements in agency history and the first, First Transit contract in the United States
- Implementing a pilot program with Uber to provide “last mile” connection within a specific geo-coded area for Highland Village and portions of Lewisville in October 2016. The discount program was updated in January 2018 with a new Lyft partnership.
- Launched joint service with Trinity Metro (then-Fort Worth Transportation Authority) for the North Texas Xpress commuter bus service on the I-35 W corridor between Denton and Fort Worth which began September 2016
- Partnered with the City of McKinney and McKinney Urban Transit District (MUTD) in June 2018 to launch Collin County Transit – subsidized taxi voucher program that provides efficient transit options for participating MUTD cities including McKinney, Lowry Crossing, Melissa, Princeton and Celina
- Launched two new on-demand services — Denton Enterprise Airport (August 2018-February 2020) and Lewisville Lakeway (January 2019-Present) — to provide real-time, mobility options for passengers with service similar to Uber and Lyft.